A Week in the Life: On Balancing Jobs and Blogs

Last week, someone mentioned to me the idea of writing a blog post about balancing working a full-time job and blogging. I was going back to work after six months, so I knew I was a little out of practice.

I figured this week would be the perfect test of my balancing skills.

I dropped the ball.

Here’s how the week played out:

Monday

I’m feeling good, because I got all excited about starting work and I planned ahead.

Tomorrow’s blog has been ready for roughly a week now, which has been the average for the time I’ve been off work.

Tuesday

Everything went off without a hitch today, and I even remembered to update the link in my bio on Instagram, which I am actually terrible at.

Now I have a week to go!

Wednesday

Getting up every morning has been catching up to me, because now I don’t have the option to go back to bed (which I didn’t do often anyway).

I’ve spent the last two days running around picking up shipments that I wasn’t home to receive, and I haven’t done any grocery shopping. Maybe I should do that. Food is good, right?

Instead, I unpack the shipments, get far too excited about the amount of Rubbermaid containers I ordered, and the fake marble sticky things I got to redo my desk. I put it all away, start playing Diablo 3 with Shane, and forget everything else.

Thursday

I’m sitting in the lunchroom with my new coworkers, starting to make friends. I’m realizing, though, that it’s almost the weekend and I have nothing ready for next week’s post.

I’m sure that won’t be so bad, because I’ve left it to the last minute before, right?

It’s a long weekend, though. And I won’t be home. I should start writing something. I start, but it falls onto the back burner after lunch. Final Fantasy calls my name when I get home, and I start to redo my desk far too late at night. I get halfway through, and I’ll finish it tomorrow.

Friday

Where did the week go? It flew by in a blur of meetings, new projects, not knowing what’s for dinner, and trying to spend time with my little family.

I just learned that they’re sending us home early today though, so maybe the few extra hours will give me a chance to write.

I completely expected this to happen when I started working again. I have so many memories of carrying my pretty pink laptop into the lunchroom at my last job, walking past all the developers and hoping they weren’t judging me in their heads.

I’d sit, while my friend drew her amazing doodles, and write out my ideas because I didn’t know when I’d get time to do it again. It made me pretty antisocial, but it was something I absolutely wanted to make sure I did.

I’m more out-of-practice than I thought I would be, but that just means I get to work on figuring it all out again. My game plan so far?

Dedicate time for writing.

This is the trickiest one, at least for me, because I’ve gotten comfortable enough with my writing that I assume I can get something done in a tight timeframe. It’s pretty hypocritical, because I used to get so mad when someone else made the same assumption.

I like to put aside a few hours a week just for writing, because sometimes it takes a few tries. Even this post took three attempts.

At least two of those hours I like to slot in during work lunches, because it’s actually a really good way for me to unwind and refocus myself halfway through the day. I’m always more inspired after writing.

Dedicate time for planning.

I slipped a little out of this pattern when I was off work and could find a topic at the last minute without any issues, but I like to plan (or at least brainstorm ideas for) blog posts a few weeks out.

It’s a constant process to keep ahead of myself, but this way, I never find myself on the afternoon before posting day with nothing to say.

Dedicate time for taking photos.

Yes, this time is adding up. But it’s important to me, so that’s why I make time for it.

I’m a little more limited on this one, because I use natural light. I’m restricted to daytimes at home on sunny days.

Now that the days are getting longer, I’ll have a bit of luck squeezing in time right when I get home from work, but I’m hoping to set aside time at least every weekend for my photos.

This blog is my baby, and it’s important to me to take time for it. But I have to remember to put time aside for it, and to make sure that time isn’t taking away from everything else, too.

Now I want to know. Are you in a similar situation? Do you have secrets for balancing work and blogging?

Post navigation

2 thoughts on “A Week in the Life: On Balancing Jobs and Blogs”

I loved reading this! It’s so true how time just flies away from you and suddenly you can get stuck with nothing ready to post. I’m currently part time in my job but I’m starting a full time job in a couple of months – I’m already thinking I don’t know how I’m going to get time to write or photograph things for my blog. I guess it’s all about dedicating that time to it, like you said! xx

Thanks, Laura! I’m so glad you liked it. Congratulations on the job! That will be so exciting! It might be a learning curve at first, but it really is all about making the time for it, and making a pattern that fits your own schedule 😊